How do I complete a design template?

NOTE: Access to our manual design process is available on request. Please email [email protected] with the subject line "Request Base Template Access" in your subject line and the name of your account in the body. 

Whether you're new to our styles or simply need a refresher, below are quick guidelines for how to effectively use our Design Templates to create or edit your products with Through6. When you upload a properly completed Design Template for your product, your order will go into production sooner with less delays.

Please make sure you review our Do's and Don'ts article before you create designs.

Design Templates

Our Design Templates are rectangle areas that are used to map your design onto the style you're creating. When you open up a Design Template, you will be greeted by the Artboard, which is where you will place your designs, and instructions that show you what panel is mapped to which area.

Note: It's important that you're using a program that lets you work fully with .ai (Adobe Illustrator) file types. If you are opening up the Design Templates in Photoshop, you will not see the instructions in the Template and will have difficulty creating your product as you want it to be.

Design Template Layout

Hiding the INFO layer reveals the Rectangles on the BASE layer. You can now see all of the art boxes (aka Rectangles) that should be filled with your designs.

Note: It is best practice to keep the INFO layer locked and to only place artwork in the BASE layer.

Using Rectangles as Clipping Masks

In this example, art for each panel is placed under the corresponding Rectangle. The Rectangle is then used as a Clipping Mask to ensure the art completely fills Rectangle without spilling outside of it.

In the selected Clipping Group, you can see an image file was placed under the Rectangle that represent the garment panel. To create a Clipping Mask, select both the Rectangle and your art (this can be multiple images or objects, as well) then select Object > Clipping Mask > Make. Illustrator will make sure all artwork selected below the Rectangle will remain within the area defined by the Rectangle.

Note: This is the Artboard to export as your Base file

Design Preview

You can preview the placement of artwork by turning on the INFO layer, but remember to turn it off again before exporting: How do I export my design?

Note: Dashed lines indicate areas that might experience cropping on smaller sizes; keep important design elements in the Safe Zone for the panel

Congratulations, you've completed a product design using our Design Template!

Your next step is Exporting your design.